Where The Light Won't Find You
by E350
Summary: Six years after becoming the Red Huntress, Valerie is offered a job by Australian intelligence as a ghost expert. It seems like a very good deal - until she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue when the elusive Danny Phantom is sighted in the country. Set in the Forever Autumn world. Possible Valerie/Danny. Rated for violence and themes.
1. Prologue

I'm probably mad taking this on, given I already have one project going and I'm co-writing another. Still, I reckon I can get it done.

For those who haven't been following this account, this story is set in the same universe as my _Gravity Falls_ fics, _Forever Autumn 1_ and_ 2._ Reading the other two is not required (if I'm doing my job right), but may improve your reading experience.

Here's hoping you like it. Let's get going.

* * *

**Prologue**

_As the six scribes ventured up the river, they encountered a phalanx of soldiers from a neighbouring kingdom. The commanding general called out to them, demanding them to stop immediately, for he suspected that the scribes and their brothers were the cause of the drought._

_The scribes knew they could not stop, so they ran. The soldiers turned to face them, but their formations were too rigid to catch the nimble scribes, and they escaped up the river. As they fled into the distance, the general cursed them and lay blame of all his problems on them. For the general had lost much and had become forlorn and desperate, and war and hate was all he had left._

_\- The Tale of the Six Scribes – R.E.R.E. archives, Hereford, Great Britain_

* * *

_TRSM ENCRYPT: CAESAR 3LB_

_MESSAGE READS: 26-8-15-6-18-16-8 23-18 23-11-8 4-21-18-24-8-23 17-8-23-26-18-21-14 22-23-4-17-7 5-2 9-18-21 9-24-21-23-11-8-21 23-21-4-17-22-16-12-22-22-12-18-17-22_

* * *

_Canberra, Australia – March 2018._

Captain James Monroe had woken up this morning believing his world to be fairly straightforward. Everything had a logical explanation in this world. Ghosts were not real. Magic was just a fairy tale. Conspiracy theorists were full of it. The Government were a pack of crooks.

Now, as he sat at the table in the darkened room, he began to realise that only the last of those safe, comfortable facts was truly accurate.

In front of him, an American army officer – dark-skinned and of average build, but with a gaze that betrayed a far more dangerous man – stood next to a slideshow projected on the wall, using a ruler to point things out. A slightly wild-haired man in a shirt, tie and leather jacket, the latter marked 'ASIO', sat next to him, his arms crossed. The rest of the room was shrouded in darkness.

"We are living in a brave new world," declared the American, "Our new enemies hide in darkness and secrecy, and we must adopt their tactics to bring them into the light."

He pointed to a duo of figures on the board – a young man in a dishevelled suit and loose tie with a blue-and-white pine-tree hat, and a woman with long red hair and a variety of flannel under a brown bomber jacket. The figures were labelled 'Freelance Paranormal Investigators', complete with air quotes.

"We are already behind, gentlemen," continued the American, "We have private citizens trying to handle paranormal affairs themselves, to say nothing of R.E.R.E.'s inadequate handling of such things. We need to get into gear."

"And how does this concern Australia, Major Hohenbecker?" demanded the man from ASIO.

Major Hohenbecker nodded, pressing his ruler against the slideshow. The slide changed, now displaying a white-haired, pale man in a black-and-white jumpsuit.

"This is Danny Phantom," he said, "He was declared an enemy of the state late last year, but he escaped apprehension. He and his sister were spotted in Sydney earlier this week."

"Why is this bloke an enemy of state?" asked Monroe, "He looks harmless enough."

"He represents one of the largest security threats known to man," replied Hohenbecker, "He can become intangible. He can become _invisible_. He can fly and he has a variety of offensive ectoplasm-based attacks. His mere existence is a danger to every man, woman and child on this planet."

"Still don't see why that makes him a bad guy, sir," mused Monroe.

"It's a precaution, Captain," shrugged the man from ASIO, "What happens if the guy decides to become a criminal or a spy for the Russians or something?"

"The Cold War is over, Mr. Blake," said Monroe, crossing his arms, "It ended."

"Point still stands," retorted Mr. Blake, "He's a security risk."

Hohenbecker nodded.

"We can't work with his kind, Captain," he said, "They live only to destroy. Pray you'll never have to understand that."

Monroe sighed and shrugged.

"Alright then," he said, slightly hesitantly, "How do we get this guy?"

"That is a problem," agreed Mr. Blake, "ASIO's experience on these matters is...limited. We'll have to outsource."

"Task Force Vulture will arrive on Australian soil within the month," replied Hohenbecker.

"Task Force who?" quizzed Monroe.

"Vulture," replied Mr. Blake, "Crack anti-paranormal commandoes, Captain. They're under the direct authority of the Department of Defence."

"A damn sight better then the GIW or the All-Seeing Eye ever were," added Hohenbecker, "But you'll need to handle this locally until they arrive. I recommend hiring an expert."

"Well, that sounds easy," grumbled Mr. Blake, "I'll just go hire the bloody Ghostbusters..."

"No need," said Hohenbecker, "I have a dossier from a benefactor of mine. A Mr. Vlad Masters."

He reached into the jacket of his uniform and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Mr. Blake. The man from ASIO opened it and whistled.

"Red Huntress, eh?" he read, "Nice name."

He looked over to the darkness on the other side of the table.

"Is this approved, ma'am?" he asked.

A voice echoed from the shadows.

"Approved and recommended, Mr. Blake," she replied.

"Alright then, Minister Williams," nodded Mr. Blake, "Let's get this done."

* * *

AN: Much conspiracy. Such sinister.


	2. Chapter 01: Brave New World

The Twenty-First Century is where everything changes...and I like to reference Torchwood.

Guest review replies;

**Guest:** Glad you liked it. Thanks for the review!

* * *

**Chapter 01: Brave New World**

_TRSM ENCRYPT: ATB_

_MESSAGE READS: 8-13 2-1-18-11 5-14-4-5-1-22-15-21-18 9-19 11-5-25 20-15 21-14-4-5-18-19-20-1-14-4-9-14-7_

* * *

_Canberra, Australia – 22__nd__ March 2018_

The first thing Valerie Grey noted about Canberra was that it did not look much like a capital city.

From her window seat on the plane, she had been able to make out a palette of greens and browns, broken up by clusters of urban greys and blues scattered almost haphazardly across the valleys below. There was no sign of any of the hallmarks of a global city – no metro lines, no towering skyscrapers; there was barely even a railway station. And yet this was the capital of Australia, the nucleus of the massive and sparsely populated southern land.

The airport wasn't that much more impressive. It seemed to consist of two different parts – the long, wide series of gates in which she arrived, and a two-storey section with Arrivals on the bottom and Departures on the top. While far from a country landing strip, it still wasn't quite what she'd expected from a capital city.

Now she sat in the back of a black car, weaving its way out of the airport parking lot and towards the centre of the city. She glanced over the file in her hands – her employment papers.

It had all began two weeks ago, when she had received a job offer from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation – ASIO for short. They were in need of a professional ghost hunter, citing something about 'the changing world' – and the pay they were offering was quite the eye-opener. Naturally, her father had been against it, but she had managed to argue that she was an adult now, capable of making her own decisions – and besides, one did not simply pass up a pay check like that.

Of course, they'd never properly explained _why_ they needed her – and Valerie had to admit, that was bugging her.

"So, you're the new ghost hunter Mr. Blake's been talking about," said the driver.

Valerie looked up from her file.

"Uh, yeah," she nodded, "The Red Huntress."

"Well, welcome to Australia, Red Huntress," said the driver.

"Please, call me Valerie," replied Valerie.

"I probably won't need to call you anything after this," shrugged the driver, "All I do for ASIO is drive people around and deliver messages. You'll be dealing with Blake and Monroe."

"Mr. Blake's the guy who hired me, right?" asked Valerie.

"The very same," nodded the driver, "He's styling himself as quite the go-getter among the spooks. He's a bit of a tool, just quietly, definitely not the brains of the operation. He basically just does what Williams tells him."

"Williams?"

"Christine Williams," replied the driver, "The Defence Minister. You'll never need to worry about her; she's too far up the chain for the likes of us."

Valerie nodded.

"Okay, so what about Monroe?" she asked.

The driver grinned.

"Captain James Monroe," he replied, "Now _that_ is a good fellow. You get him off duty and he'll – hang on, do you drink?"

"Not really," replied Valerie.

"Well, if you _did_ drink," continued the driver, "He'd have you under the table in twenty minutes. Great bloke. He doesn't work for ASIO, technically, we borrowed him from the army. He's Blake's military liaison. You'll like him, trust me."

He crossed over a roundabout and headed up a road towards a large monolith with an eagle on top.

"That's the American War Memorial," he explained, "Don't get it confused with the Australian War Memorial, that's further up the road. You should check it out if you get time. Anyway, just in front of that is your new office – ASIO headquarters."

The building wasn't especially impressive – a stone-and-glass brutalist structure surrounded by smatterings of gentlemen in suits attempting to look discreet. The driver pulled up on the curb in front and applied the handbrake.

"Well, that's as far as I take you," he said, "You're in Blake's hands now. Good luck, miss."

Valerie nodded and climbed out of the car.

* * *

Getting into ASIO was a tediously long process. She'd had to pass at least four checkpoints to get to her new post – the Department of Spectral and Paranormal Defence, or the 'Ghostbusters Division' as the receptionist had disparagingly called it – before eventually arriving in Mr. Blake's office for preliminary briefing.

Mr. Blake was a man entirely devoid of charisma and charm, looking for all the world like the greyest accountant in the world had had a terrible hair product accident. The wild-haired, white-collared man had arranged his office into a picture of perfect tidiness – everything tucked away in drawers and boxes save for a desktop computer and an old, bulky telephone.

"Welcome to ASIO, Ms. Grey," he said, sitting down at his desk, "I understand you have experience in the paranormal?"

"This is my sixth year ghost hunting, Mr. Blake," nodded Valerie.

"Good, good," nodded Mr. Blake, "Then filling you in should be fairly easy. We just need to wait on Major Hohenbecker…can I offer you a coffee? It's decaf, but…"

"Mr. Blake. Ms. Grey."

Valerie turned in her chair. A dark-skinned American military officer strode into the office, stopping next to the desk and crossing his arms – clearly this was Major Hohenbecker.

"Major Hohenbecker!" greeted Mr. Blake, "It's an absolute pleasure, I assure…"

"I found nineteen potential security breaches on my way in here, Blake," snapped Hohenbecker, "Four of which can be described as 'depressingly obvious.' In addition, three of you security personnel acted in a suspicious nature and the man who runs your cafeteria is confirmed to be passing information to the FSB."

There was a long silence.

"Heh, nothing gets past you, does it?" Mr. Blake gulped, sweating slightly, "Ms. Grey, this is Major Edward Hohenbecker Senior, U.S. Army…"

"Former U.S. Army," corrected Hohenbecker, "I work directly for the Department of Defence these days. I take it you're the Red Huntress I've heard so much about?"

"That'd be me, sir," nodded Valerie, shaking Hohenbecker's hand.

"You came highly recommended," added Mr. Blake, "Mr. Masters said you were the finest ghost hunter he'd ever met…"

Hohenbecker glared at him and he shut up.

"You understand I'll need to see proof of your abilities before I trust you completely?" asked Hohenbecker, "Not to belittle you, ma'am, but I've been burned by civilian 'paranormal enforcers' before."

"Major Hohenbecker, I dunno who you've worked with," replied Valerie, "But trust me, I'm better than they were. Just sit back and watch."

Hohenbecker raised an eyebrow.

"Tough talk," he noted, "It'll be interesting to see if your field performance matches it."

"Um, Major?" interrupted Mr. Blake, "Don't mean to interrupt, but can we get to the point?"

The Major nodded, closing the door to the office.

"What I am about to tell you," he said, "Is classified at the very highest level. The world has changed, Ms. Grey, and we have maybe five years before Joe Public realises it."

"Changed?" asked Valerie, "Is there some kind of ghost plot I need to know about?"

"Yes and no," replied Hohenbecker, "We'll start at the beginning. Back in '82, there was an…_incident_ in the state of Oregon. Ever since then, we've had a slow build-up in paranormal activity worldwide."

Valerie scratched her chin, deep in thought. She was reasonably sure that the Wisconsin Ghost had appeared towards the end of the 1980s, and that was the earliest real ghost sighting she knew of – perhaps they were connected?

"In August last year, a similar incident occurred, also in Oregon," added Hohenbecker, "Do you keep up with the news?"

"Was that the Northwest Manor explosion?" asked Valerie.

Hohenbecker nodded.

"That was caused by a build-up in supernatural energy," he added, "Caused by a would-be Napoleon and a bunch of _incompetents_ called the All-Seeing Eye. Ever since then, paranormal activity has spiked by two-hundred percent – we're talking magic use in England, time anomalies in Mexico, the whole nine yards…"

"Wait, magic? Time anomalies?" quizzed Valerie, "You're kidding, right?"

"I am deadly serious, Ms. Grey," replied Hohenbecker, "_Deadly_ serious."

"So how am I connected to all this?" asked Valerie?

"You," replied Mr. Blake, "Are helping us with damage control."

"We still have a chance to save our world," explained Hohenbecker, "To do this, we need to reign in the weird, to put a stopper on the flood of the unknown – and we've been given an opportunity to do that."

Valerie glanced between Hohenbecker and Mr. Blake, eyebrow raised.

"Danny Phantom," said Mr. Blake, "Has been sighted in Australia. You are here to bring him in."

* * *

AN: Conspiracy intensifies.


End file.
